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BUREAU REPORTS
King Khaled
Promises
Saudi Arabian
Stability
LONDON: Moves by Saudi
Arabia's
new
Kin&
IO>aled
since
be
sua:eeded !he assautnated Kin¡
Pa.isal bave c::oofirmed the llnt im·
pression thatthe Saudi royal family
has
pulled eloset together
and
will
strive banl for c::oohnuity.
Kin¡
KIWed
IS
wd lo have IOid.
u.s.
ViC»Presideot Nelsoo Rod<efeUer
lhat Cbc
only
policlcs he k.new were
those l&uSht
hirn
by King Fai$al.
Tbe sUgbt resbullle
in
the Saudi
govem.mcnt - retention
o(
KiD&
Fai.sal"s rormer
m•nisrers,
wilb
Princc Fahd r<ma.inin& in e.ll'eetive
exccutivc contro1 - is also meant lO
reftect
solidarity
aod
c::on–
tinuity.
Tbe fear of instability
in
Sauch
Arabia arter the lting's murder had
furtber weakened prospecu for sta–
bility in the wbole Middle
Eas~
c::oming
u
it did immediately after
the failure of efl"orts by U.S.
~
wy
of
S~ate
Henry Kisstnger. But
the usuranoe of a stable Saudi
.-1
A·~•o,.s~ent, .a~pg
wilh
~
f"'Sa'clat's surpnsc-aetisión to reoew
the U.N.
mandato
aod to reopen
the Sua Canal, bu res10red some
degree of bope for
a
pea<eful
Middle East settlement.
-
Adli Muht•di
China
Encourages
European
Unity
BRUSSELS: Tbe People's Re·
pubUe of
China
is eontinuing its
d.rive
10 diversify its foreign potiey
oplions
and 10 isolate the So\Óet
Unioo diplomatically.
As
part of its
program, Pelting extended
an
in·
vitatioo 10 Sir Cbristopher Soames,
vice-presideat of the Commissioo
of the European Cornmuoity, 10
visit Cbinalater llus mooth.
Tbe Community of6eials, in ac·
cepting the invitatjoo, stated that
the EC is interestecl
m
developios
eloser relatiom with tbe People's
Republic. Tbis cootrasts markcdly
witb tbe
response
given by Com·
moo Market officials lO Comeoon,
thc Moseow-led East Ewopean
tradin& bloc, when they issued
a
similar
iniÓwioo last year. Al that
time, thc
EC
Com(\lission•s re·
sponse was 10 send a low-profile
de.lcgatioll 10 sec
if
enouSh
basi.s
for agreemeot existed
to
later send
a commjuiooer. Their report:
Tbere
waso't.
Apparently
thi$
i.s
not the case
with China.
lo
the realm or
expanded u-ade relatlons. it i$
pos–
sible that the Cbioese
will
an–
a.ouoce themselves ready to
negobate a tradc agreemcot. (Tbc
nine natioos of the
ec.
as a
bloc,
WEEK ENDING MAY 3,
1915
form China's secood greatest trad·
ing partner, arter Japan.) But the
political sígniflcan<e of tbe joumey
is
far more
•i¡nificanL
China supporu European
nnili·
cation~
for rca.sons
o(
ltl
own.
Pe-–
king would like lo see Westem
Europe develop
as a
new power
ceatcr to belp eounterbalano:c: the
two superpowers - tbe U.S. aod
the U.S.S.R. Peltin& coollllually
harps on what it ealls the "impe·
riaJist ambitions"
of
the Soviet
Unfon~
The Petin& reccptloo g.ivcn
Franz Josef Strauss
m
Jaouary
sbows tbat
bc.ing ..
a.oti~Mosoow"
is
more important thao
any other po·
litieal or phllosophicallabel. To the
Chioese, a stroog Europe oo Rus.·
sia•s westem
ft.anlc
c:ould
&lleviate.
the.
prC$$ure
aton.g
lbeir
extensive
eoatcsted bord<r witb tbe Soviet
Unioo. Peking ofticials evcn weot
so far
in
abe
laSt year as to voioe
suppon for thc principie of "ooe
Germany" - a united Germany
standill3
completely free of Soviet
control,
or
eourse.
With cncouragement líke that.
it
is not
ha_rd
lO
see
wby
a con.stant
stream
of European leaders have
made the ttek 10 Peltioa, oow to be
foUowed by
a
top oft'ieial of the EC
itself.
Britainto·
Abandon
Strategic
Naval Base?
SAUSBURY: Eaeh year, llD av–
erage of over 27,000 slups pass
by
tbe stratesic Cape orGood Hope at
the southem tip of the African eon–
tinent - nearly twicc the number
whieh
pass
throuSh the Panam.a
CllDal.
In
additioo to many other
vttal supplies. these ships
carry
20
millioo tons of petroleum.
m
of
wbieb is destined for Westem Eu–
rope.
Yet despite thc imponance of
thi$
sea
laoe. Britain appears 10 be
QO tbe verge OfabandONOI its miJ.
itary role at tbe strategic Sim·
onstown naval base near Cape
Town,
command
post
for military
ships policing the cape waters.
Faced Wlth inereastn¡ pressure
from thelef't•wing of his ruUng
la·
bour_party, whieb i$ intell$ely antl·
Soulh AfriC4n,
Britl$)1
Prime Min–
ister Harold Wilson aonouaeed last
Oecembcr Britain's
inte.ntion
to
unilaterally abrogate the
20-yea.r·
old
Sjmon.nown .navaJ agreemerH
betweeo Brit.tin and South Africa.
A disarrayed Conse,...ative opposi–
tioa o.ll'ered surprisingly little
resi.s–
laoce
to
tbe Labour
Pany•s
intention.
Tbe
pad.
signed by Brit·
ain and South Africa in June 1955,
gave Britain complete acc.es.s to the
Simonstown base.
cven
in
time
or
war. wilbout Soutb
Atrica~s
con·
senL
In
retum, Britain promi$ed 10
supply tbe South Africans with
anns for the fulJillment or ber de-
rcnse role
in
thc atea (a move also
profitable lO Britisb industry), and
10 shate tecbnical koowledge.
Coovcntioa.al sea power, say m.it–
ttary stratepts. still
has
a Yll&l role
to play in world alfairs, espec:ially
ror those nations,
suc:h
a.s
Britain.
dependen! upon keeping the lines
o(
wortd wmmcrc:e opeo. Conve:l'ti·
uoaal naval forcd. c::ontrollin&
vital
.sea
lanes and gates,
conúnue lo
play decisive roles in detcnninin.g
the course
o(
world
events.
Should the Britisb vacate lhe
stratea;ic
cape
pteway,
observtl$
fear tbe goals of tbc RUS$1an fteet
m
the lndiaa Oceao would be eon–
siderably advanced.
-
MeAiin Rhodd$
Economic
Slowdown
Reaches U.S.
Caribbean Areas
SAN
lUAN,
PUERTO RICO:
Arlyone
in Puerto Rico who
be–
tieves that good thinp c::ome 10
those wbo
11t1h for
them must.
be sadly disappointed at the recen!
"state oftho Commonwealtb" mes·
sage of Govemor Rafael Hemao–
dezColon.
Govemor Colon in biS Mareb 3
address pa.iotcd a dreary picture of
economic conditions in Puerto
.Rico. the island
once
coruidered
the cc:onomic showc:ase or the Ca·
nbbean.
For the year 1974, Puerto IUeo's
gross Commonwcalth product in·
ereased a sluggish
2.5%.
And while
personal ineomo increased 8.5\1',
"-
Puerto Rican (amilics were
adually
worse off thao
in
1973.
llecause or
rising; price:s. their purchasing
power declined by over 3\1',
Puerto Rico"s lucrat.ive tourist
in·
dustty registered a decline for tbe
tirst time a.iocc 1969. Tbe number
Of VÍSÍIOrs dropped 3.5\1', W1th ho–
teJs reportin& a
5.5%
rcduction in
oa:upancy. P•n of tourism's prob–
lem Stems
(ro
m an
image
ora vio–
leal Puerto IUeo projectcd
by
the
long, S1ri(e·toro, water-workers
•trike in October.
Problem.s ora similar nature are
all'ecting tbe U.S. Vi•gio lslands,
called by many the "American
paradise" -
atleast up tiU
oow.
Oo
Febnwy
20,
Virgio lslaods Gover–
nor Cyril King. in
bis
State of the
Territory message, projected
a
128
millioo dollar territorial budget
with
a
delic:it of9 miltioo dollals.
King reponed that 10urisro
bad
dropped off severely. Uaemploy–
ment. on lhe other hand, is running
high and ban.kruptcies are wariog.
Crime has beeome
a
serious prob–
lem On tbe worseniog c:nme
pie.,_
ture, Govemor King Aid,
"lt
is
obvious that unless tbe trend
i.s
at·
rested and revcrsed. we will not
only
continue
10 desc:end ecooomi·
cally, but will reinforce the very
c::onditioas or erimc by that de·
sccaL"
lt
is obvious that uoless tbe lead–
enhip
can work some kind or mir–
acle
in
tbeir respective arcas, botb
Puerto Rico
a.nd
the VU¡in lslaods
race
so
me very dif6cult
times
in the
montbs ahead.
-
Cl8rttnce Bass
,ART BVC..,VALD
TheBiame
Game
WASHINGTON' Every mom·
in4 tbe Presiden! meets with his
chtef aides lo decide
wh~
they are
going
10
blame that day for any·
thin¡
that
went wrong.
1t
IS
a very imJ>OfUllt meeting
because, wbea you alloeate blame
in the Wlúte House, you have. lo
nHt.ke
sure
it
docsn'c back.ftre
on
yo
u.
Tbe scssions go somethio& lilre
lhiS.
"Things
ate
going very bad in
South Vietnam. Who ate we going
to
b1ame for
it?..
.
*'Congress, of
course
1
Mr: Presi·
dcot."
•"But we blamed Con¡ress for
losing tbe war in Cambodia. Can
wc abo btame them for the retrcats
in Vietnam?•·
••Cert:ainly, Mr. PresidenL Oon't
fors••
the
domino tbeory.
lf
we
blame Congress for one domino
ralling we can blame them for the
next
one
and so
on:•
"Okay, Roa, you
can
aonounee
today Congress
is
respo!Wble for
Tbieu
losing
Hue, Quang Tn and
Da Nang."
••Any
particular scnatoror rcpre·
sentative. Mr. Pre.sident'?"
"No, 1
tlunk .
we should blame
tbem
as
a group.
lf
we
start
aaming
names we'll only oft"end aome–
body. "
"AJl
rigbt, nuw we
oome
to
Por~
tugaL Wbo do we blame for Ponu–
&•1 soin& 10 tbe lert'!"
"Wby don't we blame tbe Soviet
Uruon?"
'"That could
hure
dt:teotc. We
ha
ve
adeaJ wlth the Soviets that we
don't blame them for anythin& and
theydoo't blame
us
for aoythin&-
lf
we start blaming tbern for Ponusal.
thcy'll start blamin& us for Chile."
"Well, can
we
blame CAstro for
Ponuga! going Communist?"
"Why not? He's as good as any–
body."
"l'd lilre 10 lalk about inAatioa,
Mr. PresidcnL Who
ahould
we
blame for inJiation toda
y'?"
"Congress?"
"We blamed tbem yesterday.
sir."
"1 forgot tbat. Wbat about tbe
American peopte? lf tbey didn't
conaume
so
much
energy, we
would be able 10 Uck inllation."
" 'That's a good ulea, Mr. Presi·
dent. We haven't blamed the
American pcoplc in ovcr a month
for anything.
n
..Ron, you can
say
that unJess the
American people bite the bullet
they wtU be eon:ribuun& 10 a
bo¡»
less economy for which 1eanoot be
held respoosible."
"What about tbe budget deficit?"
"1'hat's no problem. We bla.me
tbe Oemoaa.ts
for
tb1L"'
•
"IUght. Now we can aet 01110 tbe
Middle East. Wbo do we blame for
tbe breakdown in lhc negotia..
tioos?"
"Israel 1
will
say tbat
if
Israel
bad 3iveo
a
Uttle more aod was
wiJUna
!O
acccpt
a
little less we
would now probably havc an
agreemeot in thc Middle E.,t.
How
does
that aound
to
you.
Henry?"
"That's
line.
Wbtle you're sayin&
th..at,
1
wiU
s.ay
that
no one
is
to
blame for the failure or my talks.
In
that way tbe braelis ean't get
too
madat\L1....
"ls there anything else we bave
10 blamc somebody for'!"
"We have tbe problem of the
CJA
invoJvemcnt with Howard
Hugbes."
"That's euy. We blame the
media for reportina ' ' and jeopar–
ditin&our nationd security.''
uwho
do we blame for your low
popularity showing in the polls?"
•we eould blame the problems
of the KCDDedy and JobriSoo ad·
ministralions
which
1
iol>erited and
am trying 10 deal with fonhrightly
aod to lhe best ofmy ability."
'-rhat's good. -Ooe last item. We
had
a
$900 millioo ttade swplus
thi$
month - the best sbowin& Ibis
year."
•
"1 tbinlc 1 beller 14ke tbe blame
for that myself. Aner all l'm the
Presideot of
th~
Uttited SlAtes aocl,
'as
Ha.ny Trumao sa.icl, 'Tbe budt
s10ps
her~.'"
S